from the road

We're at my parents' house in WV. We got started late from Columbia yesterday for several reasons. I'm going to stay here two days longer than the fam, so we needed to bring the bike so I could get home. I didn't want to borrow a trailer because Allison would have to haul it back empty, and Uhaul is only available for local rentals. So I'd have to ride up. Allison had to work Sunday night and didn't get home until 9:00 yesterday morning. You can imagine her trying to drive 400 miles on no sleep. So I sent her to bed, changed the oil in my bike, and checked hourly forcasts for every town along the route. I managed to plan our departure for a time when I could potentially thread the bike through the thunderstorms, and succeeded. According to my storm dodging itinerary, I should have rain in Wytheville, Virginia only. That is exactly what happened. We stopped there to eat after a lovely 4 hour ride. I put on my rain britches. It started raining. It rained until I got to the other side of Wytheville and cleared up. I stopped, took off the rain britches and rode under clear skies the rest of the way.
I realized some things on the way up. Time doesn't pass on a motorcycle, only miles. The secret to deep space travel is the motorcycle. One can cover great distances without losing time. On a bike, one could travel to distant galaxies and arrive while still young. When science makes this discovery, we will no longer measure distance in light years, because it will make no sense. Measuring distance by time? When time doesn't pass, this measurement means nothing. Measure by tanks of fuel, or potty breaks. This must be similar to eternity. I rode for hours and was surprised when it got dark. 250 miles and no time passed. This also explains why mid-life crisis can be overcome with a bike.
Though the threat of storms still loomed, most of today was exquisite - about 70 degrees and blue. This evening though, two big storms blew through. We had decided to stay here and visit before going to camp. The kids weren't ready to leave Mamaw and Papaw. I wasn't either. Its about 3 hours to cranberry (by car) so we decided we'd leave early in the morning and set up camp, enjoy the day and prepare for the deluge of water and wind. We've had a great day hanging with Mom and Dad, bro and sis. Tomorrow, we're off.